Gooey Monster Cookies and Monster Suckers

We are HUGE Disney fans here at the Merkley house. Not only do we go to Disneyland every year, but we own almost every movie and love all things Disney. I may the biggest Disney fan of all in the family and still find myself in tears at the end of every movie… not because they’re sad, but because they are seriously SO awesome! The way they make up these incredible stories that come full circle are just down right amazing! Monsters University is no different. I actually took Lily and Gavin to see it opening weekend. They LOVED it and were so excited to find out that we were getting the DVD a bit early to review (OFFICIAL RELEASE DATE IS OCTOBER 29TH). We’ve been watching it all week and it gets more funny each time we do. The hubby and I actually sat down and watched it together after the kiddos went to bed last night. I can’t remember the last time my hubby laughed so hard in a movie.

With Monsters U on the brain, I knew I wanted to make a yummy and creepy treat to celebrate the new release of the movie. I couldn’t help but think of the Gooey Monster Eye Cookies I made a month or so ago. They remind me so much of Mike Wazowski. I decided to do a more colorful version with lots of eye balls!

MY LATEST VIDEOS

These cookies remind me of all the fun Monsters found in the movie! Aren’t they fun?! The kids each picked out a color (Gav was green AND blue, Evie was Orange and Lily was Pink).

My kiddos absolutely died over these sweet treats, and were adamant about trying each color. I convinced them they could only try two (one the day we made them and one the next day). They didn’t like that idea, but went with it. 🙂

My name is Kristyn and I’m the mom of SIX stinkin’ cute kids and the wife to my smokin’ hot hubby, Lo. My mom’s maiden name is Luna, and I’m one of the many crafty “Lil’ Lunas” in the fam. On this site I like to share all things creative – from recipes to home decor to gifts and home decor ideas. Welcome!

Comments

I am definitely the biggest Disney fan in our house too. I totally get crying at the end of a Disney movie. (And multiple times every Disneyland trip.) I just picked up some of the eyeballs, so I’m going to have to make the cookies with my kiddos. Thanks so much! Love your site!

I made the Green version after reading your post last time. I never thought about changing the colors….these are so cute! Everyone loved the Green eyed monster cookies…very tasty! Thanks for sharing the recipe 🙂

These are my favorite cookies ever, I think. SO cute. We were at Disneyland the week the movie opened in theaters and it was all monsters, everywhere. Jordan was so excited for that movie by the time we saw it!

You are way too sweet, Dorothy!! SO glad you like them. It was probably so fun to be at Disneyland when the movie was released… I know how Disney goes all out for those kinds of things. You will definitely have to get Jordan the movie and make the cookies while you watch it!! XO

SO glad you like the cookies, Jessica. I’ve seen the eyeballs at Kroger/Fry’s. They are also at Target in the Halloween section right now and usually in their baking section year round. They are also at Walmart in the Wilton section as well as at Michael’s and Joann’s in the baking section all year long. Hope that helps! 😀

Made these last weekend to send to my USAFA cadet in a care package. I’m not sold on the taste but they are so totally cute! My (at home guinea pig) DS thought they were tasty. We’ll see how well they travel…

Hi Aimee. These were not made in an elevation (I’m in Houston). Did you refrigerate them for at least half hour? They are still gooey after you take them out of the fridge but then I roll them into balls and place them in the powdered sugar. My oven is a little hot and usually only need to cook for 8-10 minutes and they are a little soft and gooey but not dough-y when we make them. Not sure what happened, but I would make sure they are refrigerated for at least half hour and then cooked for at least 10 minutes. Hope that helps. 🙂

I really had high hopes for these, however no one in out house like the taste at all. I will make again, for the cuteness alone, but will stick with a basic sugar cookie recipe. Like the commenter in FL, ours were so gooey. I cooked them for a good 18 mins and they still are yucky 🙁 really sad

I totally agree. I bake pretty often, and this is not a great cookie recipe. The dough, even after refrigeration, isn’t great to work with, and it’s a tough balance to take the cookies out in time to be soft enough to place the eyes, because they were still raw on the inside. I ended up taking them out, putting the eyes on, and then finishing them off for another few minutes in the oven. I will make these next time with sugar cookies. The eyeballs were a huge hit, though!

1] The dough was far too sticky to work with so I ended up adding more flour and leaving it in the refrigerator overnight. That recommended 30 minutes simply doesn’t cut it. The dough is way to sticky to work with and

2] The first batch I made was neon pink (least favorite color to experiment). After 13 minutes, I removed them and while placing the eyes, I noticed the cookies were still uncooked. So I put them in the oven after placing the eyes. FYI The eyes can stand 350 degrees for a couple of minutes before they start browning and look horrible. The powdered sugar also starts to brown after 1 minute. So for the second batch I made the balls smaller and cooked for about 12 minutes. I ended up throwing out the pink ones, so instead of four colors, I ended up with three (neon green, neon turquoise and orange).

3] Presentation-wise, these cookies look fantastic. Taste-wise, I wasn’t impressed at all. As Mrs. Captain and Kate stated, next time around, I’ll choose a basic sugar cookie recipe made from scratch. Thank you for an excellent concept, Lil Luna. I see many others liked the taste. I should specify my opinion is due to the fact I have an altered sense of smell that is sensitive to many processed foods, dyes and chemicals. Hopefully, the kids won’t be as picky. 🙂

Sorry you didn’t like the taste. We LOVE them. 🙂 And I must note that we’ve made this recipe SO many times and although the dough is a little sticky, it’s simple to work with if you don’t mind getting your hands a little messy for a few minutes. 😉

Hello!! I found the eyeballs but only in 1 size….do you know if you bought 2 different packages to get 2 different sizes? Super cute cookies!! Going to make them for the kids’ Halloween Party!! Adorable and thanks for sharing!!

Hi Cindy! I’ve seen the eyeballs alone at Walmart in the Wilton section as well as at Target in the Baking section. I have also seen the Eyes at Michael’s, Joann’s and Hobby Lobby near the Wilton/Baking sections. Hope that helps. 🙂

I used the neon gel food coloring for the pink and orange, and then used bright/neon food coloring from Hobby Lobby for the turquoise and green just because that is what I had on hand. I think most neon colors work well, and after the powdered sugar goes on it’s just slightly less brighter than the dough color, so you should know what color it ends up by looking at the dough. Hope that makes sense. 😉

Hi I’m probably a dummy because it seems like everyone else got this, but do you make up the cake mix first then add that to your other ingredients, or do you just use the dry powder from the cake mix and add your ingredients??

Thanks a bunch (trying to make these tonight, so any quick replies would be most welcome!!)

Thank you Ladies! They turned out fabulous – I am at 7500 feet and added 1 TSP flour (I usually add flour to get rise), could’ve added maybe 1.5. I put them in the fridge for 30 mins and they came out solid (not gooey), about the consistency of my regular chocolate chip cookie dough. 9.5 mins in the oven and they’re perfect!!

Thanks for getting back to me so quickly Erin, and for getting back to me Luna! Great recipe, the kids at preschool were already fawning over them when I dropped them off!

I just wanted to let you know, that I tried making your cookies for Halloween time and they are DELICIOUS! I couldn’t find candy eye balls though, so I substituted with white frosting and mini hershey kisses. 🙂

Very cute, planning on making for my boys 1st birthday.. Cookie Monster theme… I think they will fit in 🙂
Wanting to confirm the quantity of cream cheese… (We don’t really go by oz in Oz (Australia!! Ha ha).. Is it 18 oz (532g) or 1 x 8 oz (236)??

MONSTER COOKIES! I just made these today to try out the recipe and I was not disappointed! I didn’t have the neon colors so I ended up making some darker more halloween-esque monsters, but they were perfect! I say “were” because everyone in my house already ate them. You can take a look here: http://instagram.com/p/tsyyVtlPA7

Love love loved this recipe!! SOOOO delicious, so fun, so so easy. Even made it without a mixer! A bit of an arm workout, but quite the success! Check out my tumblr for pictures! Thanks for the great recipe 🙂

Hi there,
I love this idea and want to make them for my son’s party (monster theme).
I just want to know what is the weight of a Cake Mix Box? I live in South Africa and I am worried that the weights are different (we get different sizes here).
Thanks for your help.

These look fantastic! I wanted to make these for my neighbor’s kids but I can’t seem to find a reply to the question of how big the cake mix box is? I see several people from all over the world have a similar concern. Would you mind letting us know which size works best for this recipe? Again, thanks for sharing and I cannot wait to make these!

Fabulous looking cookies! I’m dying to make a batch for my neighbor. I bring him cookies now and then when I make them for my husband. These will make him laugh. He’s 85. Lovely couple and super neighbours. =D

Hello from Singapore! These monster cookies are so adorable I had to make some tonight. Taste wise, they rock! But the cookie texture is crumbly and wouldn’t hold up. I did use a white cake mix that says super moist on the box. Could this be the reason?

Made these tonight! Awesome!
Stupidly bought only one pack of eyeballs and ran out for the second batch.
Also it’s difficult to tell when to take the cookies out. First batch was more cakey. Second batch was perfect albeit no eyeballs lol.Big hit with the kids -but honestly they just ate the eyeballs lol.

I love the idea of these but, like other people have mentioned, wasn’t crazy about the taste which was synthetically sweet. Is there a white cake mix that you could recommend? I used the Pillsbury Moist Supreme Classic White.

Hi, I would like to make this cookies in Israel for my son birthday (big monster fan) , just few clarification that it will succeed. 1. 8 oz. Cream Cheese Bar softened – it means a cream cheese like Philadelphia? 2. Cake mix is the ready mix you buy to make a cake ? thank you for your help, Moshe

Hi, I would like to make this cookies in Israel for my son birthday (big monster fan) , just few clarification that it will succeed, 8 oz. Cream Cheese Bar softened – it means a cream cheese like Philadelphia? thank you for your help, Moshe

My SO and I saw these and thought they looked so cool! We went to Target to find the eyeballs (which they had) but they also had this new Duff Goldman cookie mix for Halloween. “Jeepers Creepers”. Waaaat?! We ended up going with the mix, since it was actually cheaper than the eyeballs themselves. Just thought I’d leave that here 🙂

The colours looked great, but the cookies were a bit on the sweet side (birthday cake flavoured?). Good texture, chewy insides with crisp edges and a box made about 20-25.

We made them to share, so I stretched the eyeballs out (there’s about 100 per kit) over a batch of chocolate cookies. Added extra Halloween decorations to make them creepier. I’d recommend the kit for convenience (1 box – $3.99).

I found this cookie recipe on Pinterest in time for Halloween this year and they were perfect. The cookies were yummy and soft and delicious. I’m going to use the same recipe and make more cookies for Christmas just without the eyes.

We made these today! I only had enough eyeballs for 2 per cookie, except the last cookie only got 1! I had blue, pink and yellow food gel colors that I used, leftover from a princess cake. 🙂 It was hard to mix in the color into the dough, but these were pretty good! We watched Goosebumps while making them!

I love these! they’re so cute! I tweaked the recipe a little bit. I added a full teaspoon of Vanilla (which is what i do to all my cookie recipes, I double the vanilla) and about a half a cup of white chocolate chips and made them in orange and purple . I also did them in chocolate since I wanted black cookies, but added a half a cup of semi sweet chocolate chips instead of white. They look awesome and smell so good. I made them for my family, as well as my best friend in the Navy, and I got high praises all around!

This is my go to cookie recipe . I have always received high reviews any where I take these. Yes , the dough can be hard to work with the key is to make sure it’s chilled at least 30 minutes , I put mine in the freezer divided in half . I leave one half in the freezer while I work on the first half. It also really helps to coat your hands in powdered sugar. My ultimate favorite version is white cake mix with chopped pecans added . When not using the cute eyeballs I dust mine with a little powdered sugar after they cool . Don’t give up on this recipe , you can use so many different flavors and ingredients . Get creative !!!! I’ve done coconut cake mix and rolled in coconut, added chocolate chips , used chocolate cake mix and peanut butter chips . The variations are only limited by your imagination. But tonight we are making the monster version for the kids in our family for Halloween.

I know its several years since you posted this but I tried this last weekend for a horror movie night with my friends. They were a big hit. Making them again right now for tomorrow’s potluck at my office! The taste was great, too. Nice and fluffy. Almost cake-like (which I suppose makes sense since it uses cake mix). Even my extremely picky roommate liked them.

I *love* these cookies! So cute! I want to make them for my kid’s Halloween party at school, but due to peanut allergies everything needs to be homemade. Is there an ingredient list I can use to replace the box cake mix?

These are so yummy! The dough needs to chill longer than a half hour to get a really good cracked effect (~1 hour). The eyes stick fine if you do it as soon as cookies come out and you give them a little push. Thanks for the idea!!

These cookies are too cute — and your photography is gorgeous! Was wondering if you use Tailwind — because I am starting a new tribe called CHRISTMAS COOKIES and I’d love for you to participate! If you’re interested, send me an e-mail and I’ll invite you! Thanks!

I was really excited to do this recipe. I had a friend a long long time ago who made these kinds of cookies and I never bothered to ask for the recipe. The fact that they are so cute was a plus for me. However, the dough is SUPER sticky. That’s just with the recommended time of 30 minutes of chill time. I put them again for 15 more minutes but they are too hard to work with. Am I doing something wrong? I was sure I was following this recipe right. Such a shame they taste good but too hard to work with.

I’m honestly not sure why they are so sticky. Yes, they are a little sticky, but not so much that you can’t work with them. I’m sorry they were. I do like to drop spoonfuls into the powdered sugar, then I will roll them, so that does help. Thanks for trying them, though!

I made these cookies twice in the same week: one for Monster bash at my kids’ school and the other for halloween. they were a big hit and we had a blast making them. super easy and super effective. i noticed the first time my butter and cream cheese were not completely at room TEMPERATURE, which caused the cookie dough to be really sticky and difficult to work with (even after refrigeration). If that happens, my advise is to only roll them after you put them straight from the cookie scoop to icing sugar. That way is much easier to roll them. The second time the batter was much better because my mixture was more even, so i was able to roll it with my hand easely after being in the fridge. Thanks for this recipe. i’m sure it will became a tradition in our house.